I am a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, at Stanford, and the Cullen Professor of Economics at the University of Houston. I am also a research professor at the German Institute for Economic Research Berlin. My specialties are Russia and Comparative Economics, and I am adding China to my portfolio. I have written more than 20 books on economics, Russia and comparative economics. I blog at paulgregorysblog.blogspot.com.

Polls show that America is a center-right country. Americans fear large government, believe in self reliance, and strive for individual success while not begrudging those who succeed. Americans have a higher tolerance for inequality and remain among the few nations of believers among affluent countries.

Americans voted for Barack Obama in 2008 as a candidate of hope and change. They voted for a uniter rather than a divider, who would heal the racial divide. They voted for someone other than George Bush. Except in unguarded moments, Obama presented himself as a centrist Democrat.

We now have almost four years of Barack Obama. His record of tacking to the Left is obvious. He has been a consistent supporter of big government as the “solution.” He dislikes and fears private enterprise. Capitalists must be controlled by the state. He has passed path-changing health care legislation without opposition support. He has introduced a state capitalism that decides which industries are to obtain capital (green technology) and those to be put out of business by government (the coal industry). His solution to all problems is more government spending to be paid for some time in the very distant future. He has conducted a battle against state rights, usurping more power for the federal government. He criticizes the Constitution for its lack of positive rights for those who need things from the federal government. The Constitution, in his view, does too much to protect the people from government rather than require big government to help those less fortunate. We should redistribute income and wealth. The fortunate are greedy and do not pay their fair share.

The 2012 election, for the first time, presents the American people with a clear choice. It is no longer 2008’s candidate of hope and change against George Bush’s fall guy. It is a choice between Mitt Romney, a believer in the free enterprise system and all its benefits, in limited government, and traditional American values and Barack Obama – a believer in big government, a critic of the free enterprise system, and a proponent of federal intervention, control, and redistribution.

The mainstream press has tried to muddy this clear choice. Obama is portrayed as a moderate because he has not pleased the extreme left wing of his party. Similarly, the mainstream press presented Romney as a candidate of the extreme right – an image that stuck until the first debate showed the unfiltered Romney as a regular guy with values consistent with those of the American people.

Polls show the American people in tune with the Romney message. If they, knowing all the facts, choose Obama, America has ceased to be a right of center country and has tacked hard to the left.

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